As a historian, what I trust is my ability to take a mass of information and tell a story shaped around it.
Doris Kearns GoodwinThe past is not simply the past, but a prism through which the subject filters his own changing self-image.
Doris Kearns GoodwinThere are 20,000 million books I could have to read, but I can pick the ones and know that I'm learning something that I didn't know before. That's the glory of writing. It's not even so much the writing, it's what you learn - especially history - because so much of it is research.
Doris Kearns GoodwinI think confidence comes from doing something well, working at it hard, and you build it up. It's not something you're born with. You have to build the confidence as you go along.
Doris Kearns GoodwinWhat interested me most about the Kennedys was the family situation. Somehow, they had created this family that lasted over time, they had a sense of connection to one another. Especially now, when people are spread all over the country and they don't see grandparents and parents, this family bonded together.
Doris Kearns Goodwin